The ancient Europeans who built up Old Europe extended trade relations in a wide network. The Danube civilization can be called the first commonwealth of humanity, not only from a European perspective but also in a worldwide comparison. Life in this ancient commonwealth was organized under the auspices of egalitarianism. In the Danube civilization, egalitarianism manifested itself in two spheres, the economic and the social. Economic egalitarianism is apparent in extended trade relations, where villages exchanged goods among themselves and with larger settlements. There is no evidence that any of the larger settlements dominated the economy of surrounding villages. In the context of economic egalitarianism, trade contacts evolved as relationships of mutual advantage, making the community a commonwealth. Among the preferred trade goods were obsidian, shells (spondylus, in particular), salt and copper. In addition, objects with ritual functions, such as figurines, were considered valuable goods for gift exchange. The characteristic type of settlement in Old Europe is known by its original name, and this is kome. This expression is an element in the vocabulary of the language spoken in the regions of Old Europe, and it was adopted as a loanword by the ancestors of the Greeks who encountered the descendants of the ancient Europeans in the land that came to be called ‘Hellas’. Kome (“village from old times”) in ancient Greek points to a pre-Greek settlement which is open and not fortified by trenches, fences or palisades. This is reminiscent of the spirit of peaceful relationships between settlements in Old Europe where defensive fortifications were not needed. The administration in the kome settlements was organized in an egalitarian institution with gender equality: a village council where men and women could be members. The egalitarian spirit experienced a remarkable upgrading to state level, and this transition was a process that was set in motion by a well-known figure of Greek history: Kleisthenes. In 507 BCE (before common era), this famous reformer applied the principle of communal administration known from the kome village councils to the administration of the Athenian state. This model became to be known as democracy (albeit restricted to men, with women excluded). Peaceful relations in the communities of Old Europe became ritualized as a reminder to give due credit to the precious value of peace in social and communal relations. The sacred precinct where this value was celebrated was Olympia. The flow of experienced time at the place that became an irradiating center of Hellenicity reaches further back into the era when pre-Greek cultures flourished. The early patron of Olympia is the goddess Hera (of pre-Greek origin) and sportive competitions were held in her honor, the heraia. Those who participated in those games were girls and young women. There are artifacts that show young women running in a competition. In the eighth century BCE (before common era) men took over the place and its organization, and women were banned from taking part in the competitions. Yet, as is well known, the idea of peaceful competition, the Olympic spirit, never died.